You have probably heard it being said one too many times before in your lifetime that if you fail to plan, you plan to fail anyway. Although this saying is only stressed on any other thing but cooking, the truth is that it’s vital to think of this while getting ready to cook, as well as it often determines the outcome of what you will ultimately serve at the table. Since we understand that the thought of preparing food overwhelms several people, including even the most renowned chefs, we have prepared a few meal prep tips that will help ease the process.
The first thing that you essentially must do is to come up with a list of everything that you want to prepare for the week. It can cover a variety of categories including beans, grains, meat, dairy, etc. You can even use your weekly menu to help you prepare a list, as it helps put things into perspective for preparation.
Most food leftovers only have the capacity of staying fresh for about 3 to 4 days in the fridge. Therefore, you can’t prepare too much food as it will only end up going bad after a couple of days. Nevertheless, if you prepare food and find that after 2 days there is still a lot left, you should start freezing some.
If you are making something like soup or casserole, you should consider doubling up the recipe and putting half of it in the freezer for later. In doing so, you ease the amount of work that you will have to do on those busy days when you don’t feel like cooking much.
If you don't have a lot of time and have somewhere you need to go but still want to get your preparation done, you need to start prioritizing what to prepare. For instance, if it is mornings that you struggle with most, then you may want to focus on preparing breakfast sandwiches or ready-to-make oats. However, if the issue is dinner, then you can put together some starters or ingredients for that.
When we talk about meal prep, there’s a possibility that most people immediately think of it as cooking everything at once ahead of time. On the contrary, it can mean chopping vegetables, washing fruits or even cutting up beef and chicken on your butcher block board to be recipe ready.
Hopefully, with these few tips, your next meal preparation won't be nearly as overwhelming as it might have been in the past.
